It only takes a few seconds to whip up a tuna salad or a couple minutes to pan fry a steak. If you stick with the basics, meat and veggies, it’s no different than fixing any other type of meal at home. Don’t overcomplicate it with keto versions of your old favorites – those are the things that turn into projects instead of dinner. Maybe basic-bland can get you started… once you’re comfortable with the change you can take more on? Maybe your tastes will change after you aren’t eating all the processed food? You’ve got to make it work for you.
The ketogenic diet has recently become very popular, and many food companies want to cash in by putting a “ketogenic” or “low carb” label on a new product. Be very cautious of special “keto” or “low-carb” products, such as pastas, chocolate bars, energy bars, protein powders, snack foods, cakes, cookies and other “low carb” or “ketogenic” treats. Read all labels carefully for natural low carb ingredients. The fewer ingredients the better.
Plus, many nuts are salted and may have been roasted in a tasty oil. That makes them really enticing and can lead to overeating or binging on them, which can cause weight gain as well as kick you out of nutritional ketosis. With that in mind, if you find yourself feeling out of control around nuts, you might be better off staying away from them altogether.
The ketogenic diet is super popular these days, but following it can be challenging. The plan requires a lot of diligence, as eating too many carbohydrates can knock you out of fat-burning mode, also known as ketosis. Keto dieters eat large amounts of fat, a moderate amount of protein, and only 20-30 grams of carbohydrates per day—or about half a medium bagel—to maintain ketosis.
Many people love the ketogenic diet because it keeps them satiated for longer periods of time. As a result, snacking no longer becomes a necessity. However, snacking regularly is a habit that many people coming from a Standard American Diet have developed. Although you may not be truly hungry, you may still find yourself reaching for an afternoon snack to satisfy mental cravings. Instead of popcorn or chips, nuts are a great keto-friendly alternative.
The official USDA database lists cream cheese as 1.56g of carbs per ounce. Some product labels may round this up or down, but it's actually the same for any full-fat cream cheese regardless of brand. Some calculators round this up to 2g per ounce, which can account for a big difference when extrapolating to the 32 oz needed for this low carb cheesecake recipe.
Avoid meat with condiments. Because, even if you’re enjoying a 4th of July barbecue with grass-fed burgers, a dollop of ketchup might be all it takes to kick you out of ketosis. (Depending on many factors, you may need to limit your total net carbs to 25-50 grams per day to stay in ketosis.) So, enhance your meats with natural spices and herbs instead.
Me and my husband are on the keto diet and I figured that its that time we have some keto treat. This cheesecake is suprisingly delicious considering there is no real sugar but it does leave your tongue burning for some time not sure why is that. Also this morning we both gained nearly 1 lbs:( I guess we went over our carb count. I had 1 slice he had 2. That same day we had burgers and some salad so I guess we didn’t stay under 20 grams of carbs. I will freeze this cheesecake for later. Just wondering how long does it last in fridge and freezer?
On your keto food list, stick to low-glycemic sweeteners to avoid spikes in blood sugar, and avoid fillers and binders such as maltodextrin and dextrose, which can spike blood sugar and contain sneaky carbs. Sugar alcohols such as maltitol or xylitol may read as no sugar on a label, but be aware that they will still cause moderate glycemic response when digested.
If, on the other hand, you lower the amount of carbs in your diet and increase the amount of fats, your body will go into a state known as ketosis. This is the source of the name 'ketogenic' in 'ketogenic diet’. In this state, your liver will break fats in your diet down and produce ketones, an energy source. Your body would pretty much rather use glucose as a primary source of energy but, when forced to look for an alternative, it will resort to burning fat instead.
Typically you want to stay away from any brands that use filler ingredients like maltodextrin and dextrose, or high glycemic sweeteners like maltitol. Many low-carb products that claim low net carbs usually use these sugar alcohols. Many candies that are “sugar-free” also use these sweeteners. Avoid them where possible. These specific sweeteners respond in our body in a similar way sugar does.
Hi Liz, As far as the Swerve goes, most online calculators don’t subtract sugar alcohols when showing net carbs, so that may be the issue. Regarding the butter, all butter is keto approved (as long as it’s real butter). 🙂 If you calculated by hand, then let me know which ingredient is showing a lot of carbs for you and I can help determine what was off. The few net carbs in the recipe come from almond flour and cream cheese. The brands of pantry ingredients I use are linked in the recipe card (pink links). I use Kerrygold for the butter and Philadelphia for the cream cheese.
For this reason, it’s best to fill your plate mostly with healthy fats, protein foods and non-starchy vegetables, all of which can provide a good amount of nutrients and a low amount of carbs to help optimize your diet. Avocados, along with other fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, ghee and grass-fed butter, can be used to boost your intake of heart-healthy fats to reach ketosis. However, other higher-carb varieties such as berries, watermelon or cantaloupe should be consumed in small amounts and used as a substitute for high-sugar sweets and snacks the next time cravings strike. Also, check out these other keto friendly snacks.

This means that when you eat poppy seeds, you would fail an opiate test, so keep that in mind. The concentration of opiates in ripe poppy seeds is too low to cause any health problems, though. But they can help alleviate mild pain to some extent.Poppy seeds are rich in oleic and linoleic acids. These fatty acids help with weight loss and they balance out blood cholesterol. Linoleic acid is an essential nutrient important for health hair and wound healing.

First, a little background: Eric Westman, MD, director of the Duke Lifestyle Medical Clinic, explained to Health in a previous interview that in order to successfully follow the keto diet, you need to eat moderate amounts of protein, reduce your carb intake, and increase fats. When you reduce your carb consumption, your body turns to stored fat as its new fuel source—a process called ketosis. To stay in ketosis, followers of the keto diet must limit their carbs to 50 grams a day, Dr. Westman says.

When trying to shift from a high carb diet to a ketogenic diet, cravings can definitely get strong. It’s always best to try to clean house before you start so that you don’t have food around you that can lead to cravings. We recommend that when switching to keto, you restrict using sweeteners completely for the first 30 days. It normally leads to breaking sugar addiction and ultimately not having cravings.
Nutrients often work synergistically in nature. For this reason, when the monounsaturated fats in avocados are paired with foods containing lycopene and beta-carotene they can actually increase the absorption of these antioxidants into the body. Monounsaturated fats also significantly decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels (23). Avocados are one of the amazing ketogenic foods I eat every day!
Thank you SO much for the breakdown. This is an excellent list that I am going to take with me to the store from now on. I haven’t started on the diet as of yet because I was trying to put a grocery list together. This list has been one of VERY few that have the foods and the guided amount without having to pay an absurd amount of money for a list of food you can and cant eat. There weren’t any recommended amounts to eat for the meat section and wanted to know if you had any recommendations for portions. Thanks again for taking time to get wonderful information out there.
Hi there, I haven’t tried this recipe with xylitol or stevia, but either one should work. For the xylitol, you can use almost the same amount as the erythritol, maybe just scant measuring cups. (Xylitol is just slightly sweeter than erythritol.) For the stevia, it will depend on the brand, because some are more concentrated than others. I have a sweetener conversion chart here that you can use, which include xylitol and several brands of stevia. If you use a granulated sweetener like xylitol in the filling, run it through a food processor or high-power blender for a few minutes first, to make it powdered. By the way, it’s very thoughtful of you to make this cheesecake for your husband’s birthday! 🙂
The gist of the eating plan? Taking in so few carbs sends your body into ketosis—a state of burning fat for energy, instead of carbohydrates or sugars, explains Beth Warren, RDN, founder of Beth Warren Nutrition and author of Secrets of a Kosher Girl: A 21-Day Nourishing Plan to Lose Weight and Feel Great (Even If You're Not Jewish). In order to stay in ketosis, you only consume 5% to 10% of your calories from carbohydrates—which for most followers is fewer than 20 grams total per day—and instead eat moderate amounts of protein and high amounts of fat.
When you have too much bad bacteria in your gut, you’ll usually suffer from uncomfortable digestive issues and other irritating symptoms such as bloating, constipation, candida overgrowth and bladder infections. To combat these unwanted side effects, rebalancing your gut bacteria levels is necessary so that you have a healthy mix of good and bad bacteria.
Rather than picking and choosing where to draw the low carb line, I included all the higher carb fruits and preparations as well for comparison, learning, and to accommodate readers with higher carbohydrate tolerances. The list is organized by net carbs, low to high by default, but you can search for something specific, sort, and organize the low carb fruit list to customize your needs in most browsers.
If you're still not sure what to do, or you're a keto veteran and you're looking for some help, you should check out our coaching program. Ketovangelist coaches live keto all day, every day. We keep up to date on the latest science, too. But more importantly, we focus on your goals to help you achieve success in your keto journey. It's always better to have someone in your corner, guiding you along. So if you're ready for success, sign up for a coach today.
Rich in gut-happy bacteria, yogurt is a great way to add a little sweetness to a Keto diet. Although you can find Greek or low carb coconut yogurts on many grocery store shelves, why not get creative and make your own? It’s easy as pie and delicious homemade yogurt will be a fabulous addition to the recipes featured on our list of top Keto-friendly yogurt dishes!

These keto nuts are one of the best sources of vitamin E, niacin, folate, magnesium, and choline. All of these nutrients are lacking in our diets, especially choline, a vitamin-like essential nutrient. You need choline to keep your liver and brain healthy [8]. Choline is also the precursor to acetylcholine [9] – a neurotransmitter important for muscle functioning among other things.

Truly amazed after trying dozens of recipes for bread, cake, etc. with almond flour and all turned to sawdust or icky, hard yuk! All the wasted expensive ingredients, I have finally hit gold with this recipe exactly as written! We have been Primal and off bread for about 4 years, but always salivating when offered fresh bread or bagel! This is a great recipe and thank you for sharing!
FULL DISCLOSURE - the original recipe does not have the added unflavored gelatin, but it set too soft for me. Also, it did not add the sweetener over the jello sweetening, but the sour cream "bite" was off-putting for me (I'm not a fan of it straight at all), so adding that little bit of sweetness took the edge off, and it is still far less sweet than my old sweets! And this works fabulously for those who can't afford other fats sources - or who just need an awesome satisfying snack with staying power that kills the sweet tooth, but without all the sugar!
Because the body turns the fat into energy after its carbohydrate stores are depleted, the ketogenic diet has potential weight loss benefits. Research has shown that fats and proteins are the most satiating, while carbohydrates are the least. Because you feel full longer after eating fats and proteins, you reduce the number of calories you eat overall.
So I made the recipe for 16 slices. That was the default, but there was enough filling for two of the pies and only enough crust for one pie. I tried to adjust it to just 8 slices before I made the recipe but the amounts were really dumb. The amounts were in decimals for cups instead of fractions and weird amounts for tablespoons like 0.5 tablespoon, etc.
These taste so freaking good. I used this filling and the crust/baking directions from the pina colada cheesecake cupcake recipe. The only thing I would change is to make sure to include directions to beat the eggs into the cream cheese/sweetener mixture on the lowest speed to avoid getting air bubbles in there!!! I beat them too fast and ended up with cheesecakes that puffed way up in the oven and the deflated when they cooled and it made the texture a little off. Planning on making them again sometime because they seriously taste amazing and were pretty easy, just sucks because I was making these for graduation and made 2.5 dozen and none turned out right 🙁